CM demands hike in budget allocation

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday demanded an increase in central budgetary allocation to Delhi, saying it has been stagnant at Rs 325 crore per annum for the last 10 years.

Speaking at a meeting of chief ministers of North Zone states chaired by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Dikshit said the central assistance should be in proportionate to the size of Delhi's annual budget which crossed Rs 35,000 crore.

“I reminded the finance minister that Delhi has been getting a budgetary support of R325 crore a year for the last one decade and we do feel that it should be increased. The assistance should be proportionate to our annual budget which crossed R35,000 crore,” Dikshit said.

Chief secretary P K Tripathi said although central assistance to the states is calculated considering the state budget, the same has not been applied for granting the allocation to Delhi in the last few years.

Dikshit said there has been lot of pressure on the Delhi Government to enhance infrastructure due to increasing migration to the city and it needs funds to improve the facilities to match the demand. “The scenario keeps on changing due to migration into the city. At times we fail to catch up with others. There is scarcity of space in the city,” Dikshit said.Asked whether the govern ment was considering steps to discourage migration to Delhi, she said Delhi, being the national capital, attracts people from across the country and government cannot put any restriction on it. “We cannot do it. We should not do it,” she said.

Dikshit also highlighted various challenges facing the city like shortage of water and rising pollution level. The meeting was attended by the CMDs of public sector banks and financial institutions.Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said a number of important issues related to credit flow in agriculture and education sectors in his state were discussed.

Concern over delayed LPG connectionsDelhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has expressed her concern over the slow implementation of kerosene-free Delhi scheme, as a number of applications for gas connections remains pending with oil companies due to the squabble among government agencies over sharing of security money.

While the security amount has been increased from Rs 1,400 to Rs 1,600, the union petroleum ministry is yet to take a decision for sharing the hiked amount on a 50-50 basis as envisaged initially under the scheme.

“The union minister has said that the ministry is aware of the issue and it would be settled within a couple of days. This would enable release of the connections to the beneficiaries in respect of kerosene-free scheme,” said Dikshit. Dikshit further said that there are a large number of complaints against LPG dealers which can hamper the scheme. HTC